I was given an old Apple Mac iBook G4. It runs on OSX 10.4.3. The machine is now 10 years old and obviously the OS is not capable of supporting latest browsers or such software as Microsoft Silverlight. It will open Hotmail, Facebook and YouTube, but pages don't display correctly and some features won't work. My question is:- will it be possible and cost effective to have the machine upgraded with the latest OS version?

TomUK, May 2013

Thanks Electro - I feared as much. It's a pity because this is a smart looking machine. Compact and easy to use with a well made keyboard. That's progress I suppose - I just hate throwing something that has been carefully crafted and designed, and is still operational, on the scrap heap.

TomUK, May 2013

Short answer:
NO! Not possible at any cost.

Longer:
The latest Mac OS only work on Intel based macs. Support for the G family was dropped nearly 2 years ago.
The same thing apply to the latest applications, they just can't run on any G2, G3, G4 Mac.
You can't replace the G4 processor by an Intel one, they are not compatible.

Electro, May 2013